Commercial Radio Australia names Brian White Scholarship finalists

Commercial Radio Australia today announced the finalists for the Brian White Scholarship.

The initiative provides one talented student with the opportunity to kick start their journalism career and gain experience in Australia’s biggest radio newsrooms.

The finalists come from six universities, nine in New South Wales and three in Western Australia.

NSW-based hopefuls are Dona Sirimanne, Madeline Goldberger, Blake Mannes, Zac de Silva, Keely Johnson, Tara Hayes, Matthew Sullivan, Toni Ambrogetti and Liam Kennedy.

West coast finalists include Anne Naylor, Sam McManus and Genevieve Lamond.

2019 Brian White Scholarship winner Tom Durkin

As part of the selection process, the finalists will attend a one-day workshop in late 2020 with news directors Deborah Clay, Michelle Stephenson, Erin Maher and Natasha Jobson.

From there, one winner will be selected to receive an eight-week paid internship in 2021, working across Nine Radio, SCA, ARN and Nova in either Sydney or Melbourne.

CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner said that despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, it was important for the Brian White Scholarship to go ahead.

“Good journalism is more important than ever and this is a way to support young people in finding their foothold in broadcast news,” Warner said.

The scholarship is named after broadcaster Brian White, who covered wars in Vietnam and the Middle East, authored a book on politics and the media, served as general manager of 3AW.

This is the fourth year that the scholarship has been facilitated by the commercial radio industry.

Previous recipients of the scholarship are Kamin Gock from Charles Sturt University, Rachel Storer from Newcastle University and Tom Durkin from Edith Cowan University.